Nature-ral High

September 24, 2008

I had been invited several times to climb Mt. Batulao in Nasugbu, Batangas. I always refused due to one simple reason, its hot in there. There are no trees and the trail is very exposed to the sun. After my scorching climb experience in Mt. Talamitan (the summit registered 36 deg. Celcius), I realized 'desert' mountains is not for me. An invitation came again last weekend but since that trek will start late in the afternoon and will leave early the next day (to avoid the sun ofcourse) I opted to join. I will be joining the climb with my longtime climb buddy marlon and a bunch of newbies that he invited.

The trek starts at evercrest golf course in Batangas. Half of the trek is passing by barangay roads which is very muddy because its also the route of their livestocks animals (cow, horses etc). After this is the climb proper. Mt Batulao is a series of mountain ranges a smaller version of the mountain ranges in the north. There are two trails now, one is passing by the side of the mountains and the other one on their ridges. We decided to take the new trail (ridge). I had been praying for a not so sunny weather and I think I overdo it. The weather was so gloomy and foggy that it actually rained hard early in the morning. We climb to the summit early in the morning, the summit is about 30min to an hour from the campsite. As expected there is very little to no view on the summit. But if ever there is a clearing I think there is a 360 view of the whole area. O well, this only means that theres gonna be a part 2 for Mt. Batulao for me.